


The Good in Change

by xJordanKayX



Series: Same Faces Different Places [5]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 14:02:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13572078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xJordanKayX/pseuds/xJordanKayX
Summary: Alice meets Hermione, who in turn changes her whole life





	The Good in Change

**Author's Note:**

> This is for thegaygumballmachine... thank you for the promt and I hope this is what you wanted :)
> 
> promt: When Alice gets transferred to Riverdale HS in her junior year, the first person she meets is Hermione via the cliche 'dropped my books' trope. However, it's Hermione whose books have dropped, and she refuses any help, which starts to change Alice's impression of the Northsiders altogether, as does the rest of Hermione's general personality. 
> 
> *** 
> 
> World  
> A Riverdale with the parents still in High School (I count this as an A/U situation fitting in here because we don't know about their HS time, even though technically after the happenings of that story the Riverdale we know and love could still be existing

Alice had never spared any thought about getting out off the Southside and her home, wanted to put on the leather jacket associated with their biker gang for as long as she can remember. And when she finally did, just days after her sixteenth birthday, her parents had completely freaked and taken her out off school to enroll her at Riverdale High. They, quite frankly don't want her being part of the criminal side of living on the Southside and Alice doesn't care for her parents opinion. All her friends are at Southside High, the boy the thinks she has a crush on is at Southside High and she's afraid none of those want to have to do anything with her anymore when she's going to the better school, becoming a better person. It sounds exactly like a plan the mind of a pissed off sixteen year old would come up with, but she's determined to get kicked out off the establishment as soon as possible. 

Part of that plan includes walking into the front doors of Riverdale High on her first day, clad in her Serpent jacket over a low-cut black shirt, paired with jeans shorts and a pair of boots she'd lifted from her mother's closet in the morning, behaving like she owned the place. She doesn't fit in one bit appearance wise and she will definitively not make her self fit in in any other capacity either. She doesn't need all those stuck up people thinking they're better than her just because they grew up in beautiful big houses on the respected part of town. She doesn't plan on staying long among them anyway and, if for some reason she ended up attending his place for the next two years, she has no intention of making any friends. Not that any Northsider would want to be friends with her anyway. 

Her parents had begged her to try to make this work. Graduating at Riverdale High held way more appeal than graduating at Southside High and it would open her a lot more doors for her future – for the future her parents want her to have. They'd tried to reason with her that, maybe, she would even find a nice boy that would get her out off the Southside for good. Alice had laughed at them, told them flat out she was going to marry FP Jones when they were old enough and take over the Serpents from his father, because that is the life she want to have and not become one of the stuck up people that look down at them right now. 

There is exactly nothing and no one that could ever be able to change her mind, until she bumps into Hermione. Alice is preoccupied with her mental list of people she doesn't want to get to know and people she * definitively * doesn't want to get to know, when a slender brunette drops her books just mere inches from the blonde's foot. When she follows long legs and a designer dress up towards the person she ran over, she's met with a pretty face and dark eyes. Beautiful dark eyes that don't hold the expression Alice had come to expect. Rather than being angry for being bumped into, the other girl looks surprised and kind enough, that Alice finds herself apologizing for not watching were she was going. It's the exact thing Alice told herself just seconds ago she would not do. 

And then the pretty brunette surprises * her *. “Don't apologize, it was my fault after all” It could just as easily be the truth, since Alice has absolutely no idea what had actually happened, which in turn makes her believe it had not been the brunette's fault at all. “I'm Hermione, by the way” The other girl introduces herself while kneeling down to stack her books and papers together. 

“Alice” She's so taken aback by the situation, that she doesn't even notice that she comes off rude probably. It's what she had wanted to be just minutes earlier, but something about this Hermione startled her. Hadn't the girl seen her outfit? Hadn't the girl noticed the leather jacket she's proudly wearing? Didn't the girl know she's supposed to look down in disgust on Serpents and people from the trailer park? Maybe not all Northsiders were like the ones Alice had come to know, with their noses high up in the air and no nice word toward a lowly Southsider. “You're not like the other Northsiders. You're actually nice” 

“And you're not like the other Southsiders.” Hermione looks up at her through her lashes. “You're actually not rude” Great, Alice thinks, she didn't even pull * that * off. 

She bends down to help pick up Hermione's things, after all she is still at fault here somehow, too, but the other girl stops her. Tells her she doesn't need to do that, since it is * not * her fault and Alice refuses to let her do it alone and argues the fact until they're both standing again, Hermione's books neatly picked up and in the girl's arms. Then they share a laugh, because they can see now how ridiculous this whole situation had been. Much to her annoyance, Alice finds she might actually have found one Northside girl she would want to be friends with. 

~~~~

It's her second week at Riverdale High and Alice had spent the last thirteen days getting acquainted with Hermione's friends and deepening her friendship with the girl herself. Ever since their first meeting they seem to be inseparable, much to all of the schools' surprise. Alice is not really convinced of all the Northsiders being nice and normal people, but Hermione is and that's all that matters since * she's * the one Alice wants to be friends with. 

They had happily learned that they would be attending the same classes and Hermione had promptly walked her to the office to get her signed in and had refused to leave to be in class on time. Alice had stood up for Hermione with their teacher when they had finally made it to class and, it's not exactly how her parents had envisioned her making friends, but the two girl had bonded some more over detention. Hermione had said it must be school record getting detention during your first hour at Riverdale High and Alice actually had been proud of herself for that. She wanted to cause trouble after all. 

Hermione's parent didn't like her and that made their friendship even more special. Hermione had been the good girl with straight A's and flawless attendance, and where that hadn't changed, they had been less than thrilled about their daughter's detention time. Hermione loved to spite her parents and so she didn't give a damn about them trying to forbid them to hang out. Alice's parents on the other hand had been thrilled their daughter was making friends and hoped it would be just a matter of time, before the girl realized that FP Jones and the biker gang wasn't what the future had planned for her. 

And Alice's views on all things Northside began to change, too. At first it were just subtle things she noticed when she didn't roll her eyes at Mary's antics and comments, but it soon developed into visible changes when she started coming to school dressed more appropriately and actually found she was enjoying herself gossiping about other students. The leather jacket never stayed home, she wasn't prepared for that yet, but maybe the Serpents weren't everything life had to offer. Not even for her. 

Mostly though, it was Hermione that had Alice thinking. She wasn't like the rest of them, and she knows how cliché that sounds, but it's true. She is beautiful and smart and gorgeous, with enough money and prominence to do whatever the hell she likes, and still the girl willingly chooses to hang out with her and publicly defend her should somebody talk down to the Southside girl. It's everything Alice never had in a friend until now, not even with the Serpents who will always be there for her, and it's everything Alice doesn't want to lose ever again. The fact, that she might be developing a slight girl crush on her best friend doesn't even matter, because she's willing to ignore a feeling she's not even a hundred percent sure she has in favor of their friendship. 

~~~~~

When Penelope walks down the hallway the first day after their next break, looking like she'd spent it becoming a whole new her, every boy and girl is staring at her. Hermione's jaw drops to the floor and Alice, standing beside her, can see it too, but that doesn't mean she's not jealous. She might have tried to smother that little flame, but Hermione had never looked at her like that and though she tries to pretend it doesn't, it hurts just that little bit. 

For the last several weeks Hiram had been constantly flirting with Hermione and the girl had definitively liked the attention, which means she's probably not interested in girls that way and that's fine, because it's easier not being jealous of a boy when she knows the * boy * part is why she won't ever have a chance. 

“Damn” Hermione whispers next to her. She drapes one of her arms around Alice's shoulders and leads her down the hallway to their first class. “Is it just me, or did she become hot all of a sudden?” The blonde can't help but think that it's maybe not * girls * Hermione's not into like that, but just Alice. She briefly thinks about actually crying about it tonight – or hooking up with FP again. He's been a pretty good distraction from her unrequited crush for a while now. 

“Not to sound like I am flirting with you, because I'm not” Yea, great start, that was * so * not suspicious at all. She goes on anyway, no point in keeping quiet. “But you're way hotter than she is” It's true in any case – stupid feelings or not. 

Hermione smiles in thanks and then she stops in the middle of the hallway, turning to face the blonde. “I wouldn't mind if you were” She lifts one of her shoulders in a light shrug, turns to leave but Alice grabs her by the hand and spins her around again. 

“I kind of have a boyfriend” She's never called him that, at least not since she's actually doing stuff with him. Before, she didn't want anything more than that, but now she's feeling things for Hermione and if the brunette weren't a girl Alice would have acted on them forever ago already. But she's scared, because it's the first time she's crushing on a girl and so the best way to deflect the conversation is by pointing out she's not gay – even if she's not a hundred percent sure that's true at all. 

“I'm not asking you out” And somewhere in there Alice can read the true meaning behind the words. The brunette is waiting for her, because Hermione's interested all right, but she also knows Alice doesn't yet know what she wants and that's okay. Whenever the time should come in which Alice has made up her mind, Hermione is there to be asked out.


End file.
